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Speaking of Speaking – Tips on Managing Media Interviews

jamie — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:07:09 +0000

I just took part in a #speakchat on Twitter. Tonight’s chat was hosted by @prosperitygal aka Michele Price and focused on the dreaded interview. Ok, for some folks it may not be “dreaded” although if the chatters tonight are an indication, it is at least, a stressor for many.

For me it is “dreaded” and that’s a problem because I do the occasional radio interview. Needless to say I was pretty stoked to take part and was rewarded with some great tips courtesy of Michele and of course the other participants. Here’s the background provided for the chat and below, some of the takeaways.

The chat was moderated by Alan Berkson aka @berkson0 who started us off by announcing the topic Media Interviews – Are they as powerful as the rest of your communications?

Q1: So right off: If you are a good speaker, can’t you give a good interview?

A1: You would think. Not always the case though. When you’re presenting you are in control of the flow, for the most part.

Q2: Are there skills used in media interview that are different than when we present in front of an audience?

A2: There are some that are transferable, like listening skills but the ability to “read” and get energy from a group of participants or an audience isn’t there. The interviewer may not give you the feedback you’re used to getting from audience. I find this especially true in radio interviews. You still need to establish trust and rapport while providing at least a few usable sound bytes. Best quote on this via @prosperitygal

being able to pace your message and dance well with interviewer are all very different skills than presenting

Q3: What are some common mistakes made during interviews?

A3: Stepping on the interviewers toes! Thinking you can just wing it because you know your topic. Not having a strategy and using fillers.

Q4: While asking questions seems easy, I have noticed a difference in your interviews vs other radio hosts. Why is that?

A4: Know who you are interviewing and know your audience.

Q5 Are we needing to look at different behaviors in interviews like we have different behaviors from one social platform to another?

A5: Absolutely! Each media is going to require different set of behaviours that work. Being authentic is one that crosses over though.

Q6: We think we have complimentary qualities that translate from speaking to interviews – why are they different?

A6: Back to dancing, letting interviewer lead and stay on topic is challenging to some.

Q7: Where in the timeline of our speaking business do we want to think about what is our interview strategy? (Note #speakchat tends to draw participants that make a living as speakers)

A7: Not sure what the take away was here but I would think that you should try to pick it up, learn it, practice it early on.

Q8: What are you some of the things that can hurt your credibility when interviewing that most people do not think of?

A8: Lack of congruence, not answering interviewer’s question and stepping on interviewer’s toes. Doing things that interrupt audience attention or focus (uhm’s can do that)

Q9: Does the audience hear things differently when listening to a radio interview vs. TV interviews?

A9: Definitely so be aware of and plan for that. TV for most part allows for at least some use of body language including facial expression (double edge sword there). With radio the voice tone, cadence, pattern can make or break an interview.

Q10: What have your clients learned out of working with you that they didn’t expect?

A10: Lots Strategy, strategy, strategy!

#Speakchat is a moderated chat that follows an interview format for the first 45 minutes, then followup with Q&A for that remaining time. The chat takes place Mondays at 6pm pacific time. If you have been reluctant to take part in a Twitter chat maybe this will take the edge off for you

So that’s the gist. Now my question is, what tips can you give to people who are asked to be interviewed on TV, radio or even in print.

I’m sending this out to media folks specifically (you know I mean you Don Lehn) and as always welcome feedback from anyone who can help me and others with this topic.

Marshall McLuhan – The World is a Global Village (CBC TV)

jamie — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:00:02 +0000

This classic McLuhan clip predicted so much of what we’re seeing now. McLuhan enters the video at the 2:45 minute mark and suggests that there is a difference between book readers and those who were at that time embracing the “new” media of radio, television and movies. He uses the term being “with it”. He says that we are now getting “with it” because we all get the messages at the same time, like listening to a tribal drum broadcasting messages to all who can hear. If you listen as if he’s saying these things now and not in the 1960′s you’d swear he was talking about Twitter, Facebook and the web. Maybe we’re finally as “with it” as he was back in the day

Thanks to Open Culture aka @openculture for posting this! Follow them, they’re with it.

Business Blogging 101

jamie — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:17:38 +0000

Your blog should be the hub that all your other profiles connect to and through.

Last night I went to a great local, business focused, Meetup to see what the presenter Owen Clark of ByzHub fame had to say about creating blog content. The title of the presentation was How to Create 60 Days of Content in 60 Minutes and as someone who has multiple blogs this seemed like a great way to spend an evening. Plus, I’ve been subscribed to Owen’s blog ByzBlog for about a six months and have attended other events he’s organized. In fact Owen has fueled a few of my blog posts including this one about Cameron Herold and more recently one about Google Places so I knew my time would be well spent.

The presentation began, as most do, with a PowerPoint type of presentation. Owen speaks well and he knows to avoid bullet points so we were off to a good start. Better yet within a few minutes he had the 2 dozen of us break into small groups and actually “do” something. Thank you Owen!

He had us use each other to create a list of blog topics. Here’s how this worked.

Get in small groups, 4-5 max.
Person 1 gives their 45 second elevator speech about what they do.
The people listening to the elevator speech then spend 2 minutes asking questions that Person 1 DOES NOT respond to. This is harder than it looks because we are all conditioned to answer question that are asked of us.. It’s polite Person 1, instead of answering the many great questions, simply writes them down.
The next person now gives their 45 second elevator speech.. Lather, rinse, repeat…

By the end we all had a dozen or more questions that can be reframed into great content for blog posts. Brilliant, eh.

I don’t feel bad for sharing this, this isn’t new, I’m not giving away Owen’s tightly held secret to successful blogging. This is a common practice among professional (and often team) bloggers, writers, journalists, newsletter writers, etc. What is new is bringing it into the business community. This is the very type of information that those new to blogging need to get going in the right direction and it’s not something you inherently know or are exposed to, unless you spend some time in the writing community. This is also THE way to present this type of information when you get the chance to. Interactively, hands on, lets do this, kinda stuff.

Other great take-aways from the presentation include:

Blog regularly – Once a week really is a minimum to make it a habit.
Blog briefly – 300 words or less (I have proven this is impossible for me).
Blog connectively – in other words, make sure your blog posts get shared throughout your social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc and your posts are easy to share (use WordPress to do this easily.. seriously, just do it).
Blog with a purpose – For business that means to get people to buy from you.. eventually.. so a clear call to action is key for business bloggers.
Blog for others – Find out what your customers and potential customers want to know and blog about that.
Blog ownership – Remember your website and/or blog is most likely the only real estate that you actually own on the internet. Twitter, Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn.. We’re all just squatting and can be tossed at any time. This is big – own your domain name, ideally it’s your name or your business name, or both and all derivative of AND own your website. Make sure your name(s), content and your site are yours, always!

For a fuller and more accurate reflection of Owen’s thoughts on this check out his post on Blogging. It’s great advise and if followed will get you off to a good start.

As for me.. This isn’t a purely business blog. Ok, it’s 25% business, but it’s also 50% school and 25% just stuff I want to share so I feel ok breaking most of the “rules”. Having said that I do blog for other businesses and you can bet your boots that I do exactly what Owen suggests on those sites.

Do you have any blogging tips for new bloggers or business owners thinking of adding a blog to their marketing plans?

Auras – A Simple to Use and Simply Amazing AR App

jamie — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:46:07 +0000

This is one of the best of a new genre of Augmented Reality (AR) apps to come out in the last year. I’ve played with several of these and this one by Aurasma is by far the easiest to use.

Step 1. Go to iTunes and download the app on you phone or iPad - Aurasma Lite - or do same on your Android devise. Sorry, I don’t have an Android so can’t provide those links.

Step2. Follow the very clear and easy instructions to create your own custom AR a reality.

Step 3. Have some fun! That’s it! Seriously, it took me under 5 minutes to go from “oh, this looks like a cool new and free app, I think I’ll check it out” to “Hey, look what I did to my logo.”

Once you have the app installed, view this post on your iPhone or Android and click on this link > http://t.co/BNWOkyV3 and then point your phone camera to my logo above – Focus you camera on just the logo part on the left – or below for your convenience. Yes, you need to be in front of your computer or have my business card handy to do this… Sorry, just the way it is. This app is way better suited to place based AR but this is a demo so expect a bit of weirdness.

With this app you can create a Channel and share location Auras with anyone or create and share Auras via email, SMS, Twitter or Facebook. Still trying to figure out how add a non-location Aura’s to a Channel

Open app, point camera at the logo, have a chuckle.

My granddaughter figured out really quickly that she could chase the “monsters” around with her finger and try to squish them without loosing the 3D graphics so the potential for gaming it definitely there. She also figured out quickly that you had to keep the camera pointed at the logo although if you double tap the screen you should be able to move away from the image. She’s 4 so really, if she can figure it out so can you and your customers

Check out Discovery News for a bit more indepth information about this great app.